| Upon the Sands of Vengeance | ||||
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| Comic Series | Devil's Due | |||
| Release Date | July 2009 | |||
| Issue Number | 1 | |||
| Writer(s) | Steven S. DeKnight | |||
| Artist(s) | Adam Archer | |||
| Next Comic | Shadows of the Jackal | |||
Upon the Sands of Vengeance is issue number one of a comic book series from Devil's Due. It was released in 2009 before the premiere of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Later, it was made into a motion-comic. It features lead character Arkadios (voiced by Ray Park), previously an unnamed Gladiator known for The Red Serpent on his shield, the same gladiator that executed Drenis, Byzo and three other Thracian slaves, set for execution.
This story gives information on Arkadios' past, revealing what made him a Gladiator and his intense hatred for Senator Albinius, the antagonist of this story.
Upon the Sands of Vengeance is the first of many motion comics meant to detail the lives of various Gladiators in Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Plot
The story opens up revealing Arkadios, fighting in an arena and speaking of how he adores fighting. He then looks back on how he became the way he was, how his family (including his father, mother and brother) were violently slaughtered by Legatus Albinius and his Roman army. Arkadios was forced into slavery, where he was purchased by Marcus Decius Solonius and brought into his ludus to be trained as a gladiator. He would succeed and become the equivalent of Crixus the Champion of Capua, and spoke of how each of his final blows were directed as if at Albinius himself.
The plot takes place up to the night Spartacus and the others arrive to the party, to be displayed for execution. Arkadios stands there waiting for his chance to kill Albinius, but when Claudius Glaber arrives with his guards to display the slaves, he backs down and waits for the games tomorrow. Solonius chooses Arkadios to deal out the executions, to which he agrees. He kills each Thracian man and eventually faces Spartacus, ready to kill Albinius the first chance he gets. Though he is then forced to fight alongside three of his brothers from the ludus. As he readies himself for the final strike, Spartacus strikes first and kills him, leaving him for dead as he goes on to defeat the other three. The episode ends with Arkadios hearing the chants for a new god of the arena, Spartacus.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Arkadios
- Albinius
- Quintus Lentulus Batiatus
- Marcus Decius Solonius
- Claudius Glaber
- Spartacus
- Drenis
- Byzo
- Ilithyia